n°11 expat time - ING Belgium · expat time • autumn • 2015 ... Verlaine, Coll...

Autumn 2015 • n°11

expat time

Essential lifestyle and business insights for foreign nationals in Belgium

In thIs IssueKeep fit this autumn

Get creative and co-work

Belgian photographers: snapshots abroad

IntervIew

“We’ve never shied away from taking a big, bold step into the future”TAnATE PhuTrAKul InG Belgium

get in touch

Adv_Goss_Expat Time_19,8x27,5.indd 1 20/11/14 15:22

expat time • autumn • 2015 • 3

Autumn pleasures

As the days grow shorter, it can be more difficult to maintain summer levels of activity. In this issue, we take a look at some of the sports and clubs that are popular with the international community, from team

games to individual activities such as golf and running. In our Get Connected feature, four expats join in and share their enthusiasm for sport.

On the business side, read about how co-working can unleash creativity and innovation in today’s economy, and in our cover interview, we meet ING Belgium’s new chief financial officer. Tanate Phutrakul is from Thailand and he tells us about his management style and the challenges facing the banking industry today.

Autumn also sees the relaunch of cultural life in Belgium. Europalia Turkey is one highlight of the upcoming arts agenda. Belgium has long been a cultural crossroads; this is perfectly illustrated by three of the country’s young but established photographers who describe their own artistic journey in our lifestyle feature.

We also cruise down the Rhine to discover holiday activities for all ages. The region is at its most beautiful at this time of the year. We hope you join us in enjoying all of the season’s colours and pleasures.

Dave DeruytterHead of expatriates and non-residents ING [email protected]/expatING Expat is also on Facebook: facebook.com/ingexpats

get in touch

Adv_Goss_Expat Time_19,8x27,5.indd 1 20/11/14 15:22

More than 100 luxury outlet boutiques, offering savings of 30% to 60% on the recommended retail price all year round. Open on Sundays and bank

holidays with 1,600 free parking spaces.Fall for a new favourite.

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© Maasmechelen Village 2015 09/15

Boggi Milano · Escada · Guess · HUGO BOSS Karen Millen · SuperTrash · Ted Baker

Versace · and many more

WHERE

COATSCAPTIVATE


In thIs Issue

Editor • Sarah CrewDeputy editor • Sally TipperArt director • Patricia BrosselProject coordinator • Thomas BuytaertContributors • Derek Blyth • Leo Cendrowicz • Mike Louagie • Ian Mundell • Georgio ValentinoCover • Tanate Phutrakul, by Bart DewaeleSales executive • Helena VreedenburghAccount executive • Evelyne Fregonese

Expat Time is a publication fromING BELGIUM SA/NV, Marnixlaan 24,1000 Brussel, RPR BrusselVAT BE 403.200.393 andAckroyd Publications SA/NVEditorial • Content Connections(department of Ackroyd) and ING BELGIUMPublisher • Hans De Loore, Gossetlaan 301702 Groot-Bijgaarden

6 Get Connected: Meet four expats living in Belgium

8 InG’s chief finance officer tanate Phutrakul on life at the helm of a major bank

14 how co-working is becoming a serious phenomenon

16 Our choice of upcoming culture in Brussels

18 take your pick from sports clubs in the capital

24 Cultural highlights around Belgium and beyond

26 talented young photographers seek inspiration abroad

30 neighbourhood: river cruises on the rhine

32 sally tipper looks back at the news and Derek Blyth muses on life in Belgium

34 spotlight: Arts festival europalia

Photo credits

IntervIew 8Holding the purse stringsING’s Tanate Phutrakul discusses

number-crunching and leadership

ACtIve 18Fit in the cityHow Brussels’ expats stay healthy

and active

LIfestyLe 26Camera crewThree young Belgian

photographers with a global focus

P5 Wavebreak Media Ltd/Corbis;

Karagöz Shadow Theatre Hacivat

P8-12 Bart Dewaele

P16 Maria Jose Aquilanti

P17 Monocle, portrait of S von Harden, photo

Bohumil Kostohryz © Boshua-Compagnie

Ghislain Roussel-TNL; Escalier Hannon

©www.visitbrussels.be ; Medùlla, Bernard

Coutant

P18 Jutta Klee/Corbis

P21 Ghislain & Marie David de Lossy/cultura/

Corbis

P25 Haunted Halloween, Melvin Kobe;

Caligula, Guy Cassiers/Adrienne Altenhaus;

Verlaine, Coll Charleville-Mezières Me-

diathèque/Musee Arthur Rimbaud Voyelles

P30 Courtesy Croisieurope

P31 Wine, Arne Dedert/dpa/Corbis; Christmas,

Soerfm/Wikimedia; City trip, Assumulator/

Wikimedia

P32 Dalai Lama, Rune Hellestad/Corbis; Qiyo,

Planckendael/Jonas Verhulst; Cricket,

Colorsport/Corbis; Storm

P 34 Rubra

6 • expat time • autumn • 2015

Carl Johan and his wife, Maria, are Swedish and have lived in Schaerbeek since 1998. They have two children, Fredrika, 25, and Ludvig, 23, who live in the UK

Profiles •

Get connectedFour expats tell us about their lives

Carl Johan Asenius“Much of my spare time is devoted to friskis & svettis”“I came to Brussels in 1995, accompanying my wife who took up a post with the Euro-pean Parliament, and was initially on parental leave from the Swedish ministry for foreign affairs. I’ve previously worked and lived in Sweden, Brazil and France, with short spells in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Now I work from home as an independent freelance translator. I also sing in the Swedish choir, dabble with DIY, improvise as a photographer for the Swedish Club, and am active in the Swedish Liberal Brussels club. But much of my spare time is devoted to fitness group Friskis & Svettis’s Brussels branch.”

Silke Wilson“I consider teaching and practising yoga a life philosophy”“I’m from northern Germany and I have previously lived in the UK, Spain, France and Australia. I came to Belgium in 1991 to take up a post as personal assistant with the permanent representation of Bavaria to the European Union. I am now an Anusara-inspired yoga teacher and I work mainly from home, where I run a small studio. I also teach at Tree of Life yoga studio in Tervuren. My hobbies are my work and my work is my hobby. Yoga is my life; I consider teaching and practis-ing yoga a life philosophy. I love to travel for yoga and have recently been to the UK, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Greece to take part in workshops and retreats to gain more insight and knowledge to bring home and share with others.”

Silke is German and her husband, James, is Scottish. They have three children, aged 14, 18 and 20. The family live in Tervuren


Marta Rodrigo“I enjoy any

opportunity to put my skates on”

“I came to Belgium as a translation and interpreting Erasmus student. I lived in Mons for six years before moving to Brussels two years ago. I decided to move to Belgium because of the amazing people I encountered. These surreal people welcomed me as one of their own and helped me discover a country that has the warmth of any southern country in the heart of Europe. Coming from Spain, this was unexpected! I’m a bar manager at Bar du Gaspi in Schaerbeek, where I am responsible for scheduling, client hosting and helping out with events. My hobby is roller skating and more specifically roller derby. When I’m not working, I enjoy any opportunity to put my skates on. Brussels is a great city for that.”

Marta is Spanish and has lived in France and the United States

Shawn Rateau“One of the things I enjoy the most about living here is the diversity in culture”“I came to Belgium as I found it to be a well-situated country to travel from and also to further my career. I’ve lived in Brussels for the last seven years and one of the things I enjoy most about living here is the diver-sity in culture. I’ve always believed that variety is the spice of life. I’m a personal trainer, working with people who would like to lose weight, tone up and gain muscle as well as liberate themselves from physical and mental stress. I am self-employed and rent space from Aspria Royal La

Rasante in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. In South Africa, I worked as a landscaper and mechanical engineer before becoming a

personal trainer. While fitness is one of my hobbies, I also enjoy travelling around the world visiting ancient

temples and pyramids. I volunteer on archeologi-cal projects such as the Bosnian pyramid project, where volunteers help excavate the site. Another hobby is researching; my mind is curious about subjects like the universe, philosophy, psychol-ogy, science, biology, geology and geometry to name a few.”

Shawn is single and has dual South African and Belgian national-ity, and has previously lived in Gabon as well as South Africa


Tanate Phutrakul, chief finance officer of ING Belgium, on helming a major bank

The shipping forecast

✶ By Sarah Crew Photos by Bart Dewaele


Thai national Tanate Phutrakul became ING Belgium’s chief finance officer in January, moving here from the Netherlands

with his family. He’s worked for ING since 2008, and was previously managing director of ING Barings Securities Thailand Limited. Phutrakul studied at Imperial College London and started his career as an engineer, but switched to finance after obtaining an MBA from Harvard. On the top floor of ING’s Marnix building in Brussels, he spoke to ING’s head of expatriates, Dave Deruytter.

how does a bank like InG stand out from the crowd?

We focus on being transparent, easy and very customer-focused, so this is a very clear, strong brand. Among banks in Europe, we’re one that dares to be different. We’ve never shied away from taking a big, bold step into the future. Examples in Belgium include our ability to take on the digital revolution and to be at the forefront of digital banking. Another good example is in Germany, where we acquired a direct bank 20 years ago, well before the IT revolution. Today, ING Diba in Germany has eight million active customers. It’s probably the second largest retail bank

in Germany, serving our customers seamlessly without having a single branch.

After the financial crisis, how are banks repairing their reputations?

There continue to be a number of news stories about compliance and regulatory issues within the banking industry. This has impeded somewhat the pace at which the industry is regaining public trust. There are no quick fixes; trust takes time to restore. We have to do what we do best, which is focusing on our customers and holding ourselves to the highest standards. It’s what we do every day that counts. When in doubt, we must always make sure we put our stakeholders’ interest first.

how do initiatives such as co-creating and crowdfunding affect InG?

We clearly recognise these trends in the market and discuss them actively. Universal banks are relevant in this space. We like to talk about what we call the value chain, all the way from simple payments through to complex products and financial services. The other thing we have in our favour is scale. We’re a very large bank with a lot

The shipping forecast

“Among banks in Europe, we’re one that dares to be different”


at ING Belgium has shown me the breadth of our business in this country. We go from serving the individual, to private banking customers, to some of the largest companies in the world. The financial scale of our business is enormous. ING Belgium has around €170 billion in financial assets to be managed. These are huge numbers, huge responsibilities. Some of our products and services are extremely complex; we’re talking about structured finance and financial markets and these are complex matters to be controlled.

My job is split into three parts, each equally important in my view. The first is the day-to-day running of the bank and the finance function in a smooth way. The second is being a champion of changing the organisation. We have multiple change programmes, some of which are technology-driven, some regulation-driven. In Europe today, a whole library of changes is coming at the banking industry and so I spend a huge amount of my time managing the bank’s change agenda to respond to this. The third, and it’s very difficult to do, is anticipating the future. We’re a big battleship which is very difficult to turn; you have to be very careful how you do this, so we spend a lot of time anticipating what changes are coming and how best to react to them. The reality is that the future is a bit of a fog, nothing is clear, but you must be able to make decisions under such conditions.

Are you confident about the european economy?

Totally. I think naysayers are too negative. There continue to be extremely prosperous companies in Europe, and we should never underestimate the reinvention of society and businesses. When you come out of a crisis as we did after 2008, things

Interview •

of flow and volume, which has many advantages. A bank is about lending money and getting it back, and that needs good risk-management practices which are not easily replicable in the short term. You need years and years of experience to do this.

ING Belgium has come out of the financial crisis with consistently good performance and profitability. But we do recognise the need to evolve. A good example is our new FinTech Village initiative, the first Belgian accelerator dedicated to financial technology. It encourages entrepreneurs who are developing new business models in financial services. We will help mentor them, creating environments and eco-systems for them to develop their ideas. This enables us to spot new trends and ideas that we can use and maybe

invest further in, co-opting them into our business model. We are, if anything, leading the charge, and revolutionising our own model.

Is there more to your role than number crunching?

I have to say I like mathematics and I like banking, which is a good thing, but my experience in the last six months

“We have to do what we do best, which is focusing on our customers and holding ourselves to the highest standards”


get gradually less bad and then end up being good. I experienced the Asian financial crisis: at the time you couldn’t see a bright future, but ten years later, lo and behold, you suddenly say wow, we’re back. I think that will happen here as well. There’s stability and great companies in Europe; a lot of our customers are prospering. Concerning the euro, when economic growth is slow, some devaluation can be good. But at a certain point, the wealth of nations and continents is partly determined by its currencies. If you have declining currency forever, your wealth will not grow. The euro should slowly climb as economic growth climbs.

how would you describe your cultural identity?

I was fortunate that my parents gave me the opportunity to go to school in the UK when I was 10 or 11. I wasn’t afraid of doing this. After my studies, I had a chance to work in the US; I didn’t

know anybody in the US but I packed my bags and went. I turned to finance when I was there because I didn’t like working as an engineer. So I went back to school and said I’m going to change my life. All of this taught me to be flexible. You have to go with the flow, not resist change but embrace it. I also learnt that there is beauty in everyone’s culture: you have to be accepting of this and of new societies. I just try and adapt myself as quickly as I can to a new environment.

I look at myself as being Asian in terms of my outlook, style and approach to work, but I understand the differences in culture that people have. You need that to make a human connection. Having lived in the US and UK, I understand the Anglo-Saxon culture. I previously worked in the Netherlands where people can be very direct, which I am not. They knew I was more soft-spoken, more indirect in my communication, but I found a way of

“You have to go with the flow, not resist change but embrace it”


Interview •

I don’t like is the traffic; you have to manage your life around it and that’s a challenge. Family is very important and to be able to move the way we do, you need them to be very supportive. My children go to the British School of Brussels and are enjoying it, and like myself have learnt to adapt very quickly. Brussels is an incredibly international city and my wife is also able to meet friends and create new relationships. I find the people friendly, willing to help and point you in the right direction. Running is my favourite exercise, and golf is also a passion. We’re taking advantage of being in the centre of Europe, so we travel everywhere in Europe. This is a very nice part of the world.

making it work. I consider building relationships to be very important: you must have trust before you can have a direct and sometimes difficult conversation. I think Belgium is similar. There’s a need for relationship and trust before you can conduct business.

what would you advise a young professional aiming for an executive position?

I think ING is one of the best companies to work for as it’s very informal, with little hierarchy. You can meet great friends and colleagues, working together in a very collegial style. I always say you have to dare to take risks and you should be conscious about the life choices and career choices you make. When I retire I should be able to look back and say I never regretted the path not taken and should appreciate the path I did take. You have to take opportunities and seize the day. I don’t think you should aspire to a senior role: you should aspire to enjoy your work. If you do that, most of the time you will excel at what you do and promotion or career advancement will come. Life is too short to be working towards a goal you might not even want; you should enjoy the content of your job.

how are you and your family enjoying living in Belgium?

The food is great, particularly compared to the Netherlands! The other thing that amazes me is the beautiful trees and forests and how grand they are. I walk in the parks with my wife and children and I don’t think you realise how incredible these trees are. We travel a lot around the country and say you don’t see this every day. What

“I learnt that there is beauty in everyone’s culture: you have to be accepting of this and of new societies”

JOY KNOWS NO BORDERS.BMW DIPLOMATIC SALES.

BMW Brussels - Branch of BMW BeluxChaussée de Louvain 864 - 1140 Brussels - Tel. 02 730 49 11 - [email protected] - www.bmwbrussels.beJean-Michel Martin EastRue François Desmedt 96 - 1150 Brussels - Tel. 02 772 08 20 - [email protected] - www.jmmartin.bmw.beJean-Michel Martin WestBoulevard Industriel 125 - 1070 Brussels - Tel. 02 521 17 17 - [email protected] - www.jmmartin.bmw.beGinion WaterlooChaussée de Bruxelles 54 - 1410 Waterloo - Tel. 02 352 03 30 - [email protected] - www.ginion.bmw.beGinion OverijseBrusselsesteenweg 403 - 3090 Overijse - Tel. 02 687 91 40 - [email protected] - www.ginion.bmw.beDavo Tongeren bvbaMaastrichtersteenweg 529 - Exit 32 - E313 - 3700 Tongeren - Tel. 012 23 71 55 - [email protected] - www.davo.bmw.bePhilippe Emond s.a.Route de Bastogne 394 - 6700 Arlon - Tel. 063 23 05 60 - [email protected] - www.emond.bmw.beLouyet MonsRue des Sandrinettes 48 - 7033 Mons-Cuesmes - Tel. 065 40 02 00 - [email protected] - www.louyet.bmw.be

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BMWDiplomatic Sales

SheerDriving Pleasure

BMW18571_Expat Time S3_275x198_EN.indd 1 16/09/15 17:33

JOY KNOWS NO BORDERS.BMW DIPLOMATIC SALES.

BMW Brussels - Branch of BMW BeluxChaussée de Louvain 864 - 1140 Brussels - Tel. 02 730 49 11 - [email protected] - www.bmwbrussels.beJean-Michel Martin EastRue François Desmedt 96 - 1150 Brussels - Tel. 02 772 08 20 - [email protected] - www.jmmartin.bmw.beJean-Michel Martin WestBoulevard Industriel 125 - 1070 Brussels - Tel. 02 521 17 17 - [email protected] - www.jmmartin.bmw.beGinion WaterlooChaussée de Bruxelles 54 - 1410 Waterloo - Tel. 02 352 03 30 - [email protected] - www.ginion.bmw.beGinion OverijseBrusselsesteenweg 403 - 3090 Overijse - Tel. 02 687 91 40 - [email protected] - www.ginion.bmw.beDavo Tongeren bvbaMaastrichtersteenweg 529 - Exit 32 - E313 - 3700 Tongeren - Tel. 012 23 71 55 - [email protected] - www.davo.bmw.bePhilippe Emond s.a.Route de Bastogne 394 - 6700 Arlon - Tel. 063 23 05 60 - [email protected] - www.emond.bmw.beLouyet MonsRue des Sandrinettes 48 - 7033 Mons-Cuesmes - Tel. 065 40 02 00 - [email protected] - www.louyet.bmw.be

3.8-7.9 L/100 KM • 99-185 G/KM CO2Environmental information (RD 19/03/04): www.bmw.be

JOY KNOWS NO BORDERS.

As a member of the Corps Diplomatique, a European institution or an international organization, you know that things can be quite different from one country to another. One thing we want to keep unchanged, is your joy of driving a BMW. Our dedicated team perfectly understands the constraints of your mission and is used to fi nding the best solutions in the shortest lapse of time while providing you with a full service. This includes delivery of your personalized car anywhere in the world with respect to local specifi cations. Furthermore, we offer you particularly attractive sales conditions. Because we just love to push back frontiers.

BMWDiplomatic Sales

SheerDriving Pleasure

BMW18571_Expat Time S3_275x198_EN.indd 1 16/09/15 17:33


Business •

Co-working describes a shared working environ-ment, frequently an office with some support equip-ment and social or creative

interaction between its members. Usually attracting freelancers, staff from small companies or entrepreneurs on the move, co-working spaces are a viable alternative to working from home. They also foster social contact, synergies and creativity.

Software engineer Brad Neuberg invented the concept in San Francisco in 2005 and later co-founded Citizen Space, which focused on collaboration, openness, community and accessibility. Since 2012, European cities have joined the trend and Belgium now has more than 40 such offices.

The difference from the traditional busi-

ness centre is the concept of community and collaboration. Business centres are usually limited to providing temporary offices and services, with only minimal interaction between the people based there. Co-working spaces, on the other hand, can be private initiatives, with a social component aiming to break even or make a profit, or they may be sup-ported by a regional agency. Chambers of commerce offering business centre services for their members are not the only organisations keeping a keen eye on the latest co-working initiatives.

A similar interest is maintained by uni-versities that want to engage with busi-ness. They often create incubators for an easy flow of knowledge or technol-ogy between themselves and business.

In the US, in particular, staff of large companies may work in co-working set-

tings outside their employer’s facilities. The main aim of these companies is to benefit from synergies and creativ-ity created by freelancers or workers in co-working spaces. Intellectual property issues may arise, but large companies often feel they can’t afford to lose out on the new opportunities of co-creation with external freelancers. Freelancers and employees have the advantage of being able to hook their ideas to a larger structure to increase the chance of successfully developing it.

Co-working underscores the importance of face-to-face human interaction in the business world. Of course, social media and the connection of devices over the internet, known as the Internet of Things, can play an important support role. Webcams, web presentations, Skype, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are all tools for digital interaction with a

Creative unionSharing an office space is ideal for co-creation and business incubators

✶ By Dave Deruytter


social component. But a good network-ing drink on Friday evening or a mid-week coffee and cake meeting can do wonders for creative entrepreneurship.

Of course, you need enough extroverts in the co-working space to ensure people mingle and interact, as well as structured entrepreneurs who encour-age people to make sure their projects actually reach finalisation. And all of this usually takes place in a pleasant location with happy support staff. A 3D printer and related software can be useful shared equipment for co-working spaces. This ensures their scope is not limited to the service sector. Even service companies often install a small production capacity for testing, given that they see a future in combining the internet, software, tools and equip-ment, as with the Apple Watch or the Google Glass.

Large organisations are not ignoring the phenomenen. Many are looking into applying many features of co-working to their own facilities. Today, it’s not good enough to tell your staff they can work half a day each week on a project outside the formal job de-scription. There needs to be a support structure and the right atmosphere for creativity and entrepreneurship to happen. Apple and Google took this on board years ago. The latter has recently refocused creativity time for its employees to make sure that energy is concentrated on projects that might be of interest to the company. It may look like a limitation, but the com-pany’s product portfolio has become so large that many possibilities remain. In the end, we all need an income and so do companies. Ideas that don’t fit the company’s portfolio can be sold or spun off.

Co-working underscores the importance of face-to-face interaction in business

Shared work space at The Library in

Brussels

Agenda •

what’s on in Brussels

hOMe vIsIt eurOPeDespite a half-century of integration, Europe remains a vague concept in the day-to-day to lives of its citizens. Berlin-based theatre company Rimini Protokoll plays with this tension in Home Visit Europe, a series of intimate, interactive performances in living rooms across the continent. Regular folks volunteer to host a night in their own homes, joined by a dozen ticket-holders as well as Rimini Protokoll’s trio of performers (and a suitcase of maps and props). Hilarity ensures. The project was inaugurated in Germany before moving on to Poland, Portugal and Scandinavia. At year’s end Rimini Protokoll arrives in the heart of Europe, where their collaborators at Kaaitheater have prepared the ground for more than a dozen home visits around Brussels.

8-20 Decemberwww.kaaitheater.be


MIDIs Du théâtre

Theatre is generally an after-work affair but Brussels’ Centre for Fine Arts invites you to enjoy the occasional play in your lunch break. The Midis du Theâtre programme features one-day stands by some of the region’s best-loved companies. In October it’s Belgo-Luxembourgish director Ghislain Roussel and his Monocle (pictured), based on German painter Otto Dix’s interwar Portrait of the Jour-nalist Sylvia von Harden. In November, the Brussels-based Night Shop Theâtre presents Silence, which dramatises the sunset years of an elderly couple through a contem-porary blend of Socratic dialogue and live marionette performance. Finally, in December, West African actor Étienne Minoungou chan-nels the American boxer in M’Appelle Mohamed Ali.27 October 17 November 1 DecemberBozarwww.bozar.be

UPCOMING EVENTS WITH ING

• 8 October, 17.30 Expat Real Estate in Belgium, ING auditorium, 1 Rue du Trône, Brussels• 10 December, 17.30 Expat Estate Planning, ING Lion & Orange Rooms, 60 Cours

Saint-Michel, Etterbeek www.ing.be/expatseminars

eDIth CAveLL CentenAry

The World War One cente-nary kicked off last year and won’t stop until the armistice itself turns 100 in 2018. This year in particular, Belgium celebrates the life of British nurse Edith Cavell, who helped hundreds of Allied soldiers escape to the neutral Netherlands before she was executed by German firing squad on 12 October, 1915. The centenary lasts all year long but October’s events are its heart and soul. These include a free exhibition (10-25 October) and a screening of the recently restored 1928 biopic Dawn (28 October). Across Brusselswww.edith-cavell- belgium.eu

Art nOuveAu AnD Art DeCO BIennALe

Everyone knows Brussels was one of the centres of Art Nouveau. The problem is that the 19th-century design movement and its early 20th-century Art Deco sequel were fuelled largely by private commissions and thus much of the work remains behind closed doors. The eighth edi-tion of this biennale opens over 20 of these normally private spaces for a rare glimpse into the city’s artistic heritage. Every weekend in October there are guided walking tours and interior visits in different neighbour-hoods across Brussels. You’ll see all the famous landmarks and discover many more hid-den gems.Throughout Octoberwww.biennale-art- nouveau.be

MeDúLLA

Back by popular demand, La Monnaie reprises one of last season’s favourite produc-tions. The Brussels opera’s eponymous stage adaptation of Icelandic art-rock singer Björk’s 2004 concept album Medúlla was a bold move but very much in keep-ing with the organisation’s recent Pop Art leanings; the same season saw the world premiere of Nick Cave’s opera Shell Shock. Medúlla explores primary sound, often guttural gestures, and primordial imagery as human-ity’s common denominator. Director Sjaron Minailo brings in children’s and youth choirs to emphasise the fundamen-tal innocence of the human animal before its corruption by culture, greed and nation-alism.18-21 Novemberwww.lamonnaie.be



Active •

Join the clubKeeping fit in the capital has never been easier, with teams catering for all sporting inclinations

✶ By Leo Cendrowicz


“We believe in working hard in training and playing hard, but we also carry on the spirit of fair play”

While Brussels has a reputation as a serious capital city and a magnet for politics and

business, it also has a thriving sports and leisure scene, offering a variety of op-tions for locals and visitors whose energy input ranges from all-out fitness freaks to armchair fans. The presence of so many foreign nationals in Brussels means you can also participate in sports that may not strike you as being indigenous to Belgium, like cricket and rugby.

Brussels’ parks and forests offer excel-lent possibilities for walking, jogging, horse-riding and cycling, and most of it is easily reachable. The same is true of skateboarding, guaranteeing fun for thrill-seeking youngsters. While there is not yet an indoor venue in the capital, skateboarders can head to the Ursulines skatepark in the city centre, as well as Place Wiener, Trône and Bois de la Cambre.

Amateurs who want to play sports like football, rugby and cricket have a choice of expat teams. There are numerous health clubs, gyms and sports clubs in the city for active enthusiasts. As well as martial arts, yoga, pilates and dance, there are aficionados of virtually every sport, however obscure: badminton, cro-quet, korfball, Nordic walking, ultimate Frisbee, underwater hockey and roller derby all have clubs in Brussels.

The most obvious sports are those where Belgians are already excelling. With the Red Devils this year reaching second place in the Fifa rankings, and Belgian footballers in almost every English

Premiership side, it’s no surprise that football is well entrenched in Brussels. Expat teams like Brussels United Football Club, Royal Brussels British Football Club and FC Irelande have long been part of the amateur league scene.

With icons like Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters – plus an emerging generation of players – tennis also has a strong following in Brussels and its suburbs, which are well-stocked with tennis clubs, including the Centre Sportif de Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Tennis Couverts Montjoie, Tennis Panorama, the Brussels Lawn Ten-nis Club and the European Club.

Belgium can claim a truly world-class hero in cycling, thanks to Eddy Merckx, and the country still boasts some of the world’s best riders, as well as the best routes: there are many wonderful cycle tracks in the Forêt de Soignes on Brus-sels’ outskirts. There is also an excellent scheme whereby bikes can be hired cheaply from many railway stations and returned to any other station. And there are associations like Adeps, the Proximus Cycle Challenge and the Federation Belge du Cyclotourisme that organise regular rides.

Running is popular, with joggers almost permanently visible around the Cin-quantenaire and Woluwe parks. There are many running groups in the capital, notably the Racing Club de Bruxelles, as well as expat groups like the Brussels Hash House Harriers, the Brussels Man-neke Piss Hash House Harriers, and Brus-sels Runners. And every year, thousands sign up for events including the Brussels 20km and marathon, Colour Run and Urban Trail.

For those who just want to work out, there are dozens of gyms in Brussels, including chains like John Harris, David Lloyd, Aspria, Health City and World Class. Many of the clubs and fitness coaches use digital coach technol-ogy, designed to simulate a personal trainer. This is the tech that turns your smartphone into a patient instructor or physiologist, with heart-rate monitors, pedometers and other gadgets that say exactly how much energy is expended as you run. Other gadgets or apps might film your golf swing or basketball throw, break down your mechanics and tell you what you’re doing wrong.

Among the sports that expats have introduced to Belgium, cricket has the longest history in Brussels, and the game can even claim a role in the creation of both Belgium and Europe as we know them. It was 200 years ago this June that a cricket game was first recorded on Bel-gian soil: three days before the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, English soldiers played a match in Enghien, 30km southwest of Brussels, attended by the Duke of Wellington.


Active •

what does physical fitness mean to you?

Silke Wilson When I first started to take yoga classes, I regarded it purely

as a tool to improve my overall fitness. Thanks to the many wonderful teachers I have had and still have, I look at it now as a tool to improve the entirety of my life and that of others. The practice of yoga integrates and reconnects body, mind and spirit. This connection makes you more aware of your essence, which is actually the goal of yogic practices. The more I practise this form of awareness, the more joy I experience. It’s this aspect of yoga that benefits me and the people around me. The physical strength and well-being are merely welcome side effects. The world of yoga offers a diverse social life and I have had the pleasure of connecting with extraordinary, fun and loving people from all over the world as well as the local community.

Shawn Rateau I try to keep it varied by combining cardio, weight training

and gymnastics. This way I can stay fit and agile. I practise sport about five days a week, either working out in the park or in my

club. There are a lot of expat members in the club as it isn’t far from the EU institutions. It’s a great place to meet people from all over the

world. Sport is definitely an ice-breaker, whether it’s a team sport or an individual doing his or her thing. There’s nothing like the feel of endorphins

flowing in the bloodstream to take the edge off, make friends and create a new beginning.

Carl Johan Asenius I join as many Friskis & Svettis classes as possible. The concept

originated in Sweden in the late 1970s and is based on the assumption that man was made to move and that physical exercise

should be fun, accessible and enjoyable. The original format, jympa, has an instructor in the middle of the hall, showing participants the

movements. The whole body gets a thorough workout in a limited amount of time. No machines, no tools, no particular dress code, but with music to inspire

and motivate. The original concept forms the basis for a lot of different forms of exercise today, such as box, stations, flex, core, running, yoga and Nordic walking. The 700 or so members in Brussels are part of a European organisation. As I work from home, it’s essential to get away from the screen, and Friskis Brussels has a very strong social dimension. It was started by expats, with English as the working language. Typically, around 15 nationalities may be represented at a class of 40 participants. Being entirely non-profit, without any employees, it relies on enormous amounts of volunteer work. Over the years, I’ve contributed a fair amount. The fact you get and stay fit is almost an added bonus!

Marta Rodrigo I’m a skater for the Brussels Derby Pixies, the local roller

derby team. Our main priority is to keep progressing in order to play with a variety of teams abroad, thus increasing our place in the rankings. With such a perspective, it’s clear that we need visibility to benefit from subsidies to facilitate technical aspects within the team. We also want to emphasise the fun side of roller derby. It’s a small community where everyone gives a hand. Before I discovered roller derby, sports weren’t that appealing to me. When I moved to Brussels I joined the local team, who welcomed me with open arms. In a city where I knew no one, I could count on 40 girls who were ready to help me and support me. As an expat it’s comforting to find people you can rely on from the beginning.

The Royal Brussels Cricket Club (RBCC) was founded 50 years later, in 1865, and is still going strong. This June, the club celebrated the Waterloo match with games against London’s Mar-ylebone Cricket Club and the Guards Cricket Club. Based in Lasne, the RBCC has the best ground and facilities in Belgium, with a full-size ground with sightscreens at each end, and a pavilion with a bar, changing rooms and show-ers. The club plays in Division 1 of the four in the Belgian Cricket Federation’s league.

RBCC chairman Nick Compton says the sport is now entrenched in Belgium, embracing enthusiasts from far beyond the British expat community. Indians, Pakistanis, South Africans and Austral-ians are well represented in the RBCC; Antwerp has a team from the mainly Gu-jarat Indian diamond community; there are Afghan and Pakistani teams; and Belgians dominate sides from cities like Mechelen, Ghent and Wavre. Compton – who also plays a leading role in youth development programmes – says there is a high standard of play in Belgium. “We’ve seen some very impressive play-ers over the years and we can hold our own against English sides,” he says. “We teach young players not only how to hit the ball out of the park, but also the spirit of the game.”

Rugby also has a long history in Belgium and boasts some 65 clubs. Although the Belgian Rugby Federation was created in 1930, it has still not really seen a major take-off in popularity, and foreigners remain a driving force in the game. The main disciplines of rugby played in Belgium are 15-a-side and sevens, with an international 10-a-side competition organised by the Flemish club Dender-monde, one of the best-attended rugby events of the year. The competition in Belgium is split between the French- and Dutch-speaking leagues, and is struc-tured into four districts for competition purposes (with Brussels in the Brabant


the games are still practised in parks and fields in Belgium. There are also teams for the other two codes in the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), the women’s games, camogie (female hurling) and ladies’ Gaelic football.

Belgium GAA, with more than 100 members, caters for the Gaelic sports and competes in the European champi-onships (all of the continent except for Ireland and Britain, which have separate championships), against the likes of Am-sterdam, Paris, Madrid and Luxembourg. GAA chair Kevin Keary says the games are mostly played by expats although some locals take part.

Sides meet up for day-long tournaments, rather than individual games, and the standard is always improving. “We are currently champions across all four codes and as such are the dominant club in Eu-rope,” Keary says, adding that Belgium’s ladies beat the British junior champions last year to reach an all-Ireland club quarter-final.

“It’s a wonderful thing to be able to play these games on fields across Europe,

connecting with the Irish diaspora on the continent,” Keary says. “But it’s also the most marvellous thing to see how what are traditionally Irish games are becom-ing embedded in places such as Brittany and Galicia, where the locals have taken to it with gusto.”

American sports have also taken root in Belgium. Baseball enthusiasts have set up a community, and the Brussels Kanga-roos, based in Stade Fallon, have been around for 25 years. But perhaps the most intriguing import is American foot-ball, which has been in Belgium just as long. Anderlecht-based side the Brussels Black Angels, the current national cham-pions, are one of 18 teams in Belgium.

General secretary Chantal Crabeels first got involved in American football in Belgium in 1988. “The team has about seventy members, including juniors aged fifteen to nineteen,” she says. “Play-ers come from all over Brussels and around. We don’t have any Americans any more, but we have many non-Bel-gians and are a real multicultural group.”

The self-defence technique Krav Maga may have been developed by the Israeli army, but it is now adapted to civilian life and is popular around the world. In Belgium, an active federation organises classes around the country, for men, women and children. Instructor Alex du Mong provides lunchtime classes to Eu-ropean Commission employees, among others. “They are of all nationalities and everyone is welcome as long as they respect our code of ethics,” he says. For unlike martial arts, Krav Maga teaches you to thwart aggression by targeting non-muscled areas such as the body’s joints. It also provides a complete work-out. “I offer personalised programmes depending on the individual’s age, fitness and specific needs. While Krav Maga was developed for self-defence and to reinforce self-confidence, many people continue the practice as a sport,” says du Mong.

“It’s a wonderful thing to be able to play these games on fields across Europe”

section); within these districts there are also several leagues and divisions.

Expat side Brussels Barbarians Rugby Football Club, founded in 1968, won the Belgian Cup many times before merging with fellow expat club Brussels Celtic in 2014 to become BBRFC Celtic. The merged club now has three full men’s XVs squads, a women’s XV, a mixed touch team, and a rugby school for all ages from under-sevens to under-19s. “We believe in working hard in training and playing hard,” says club secretary Olivier Costa. “But we also carry on the rugby spirit of fair play: the hosting team, for example, always buys drinks for the visiting team.”

Belgium itself is improving, and the national XV side is now ranked 30th in the world. But the greatest surprise for national rugby has been the men’s sevens team, which moved up from 24th in Europe in 2010 to sixth in 2014, beat-ing England, Wales and Scotland along the way.

Briton Chris Trapman, who manages Belgium’s sevens team – the code is now an Olympic sport – says many of the best players are university students. “The Belgium University sevens team took the silver medal in Brazil in 2014, losing the final to Great Britain, in the World Uni-versity Championships,” he says. “It was a good example of David versus Goliath, with Belgium’s 14,000 registered players compared to Britain’s 2.5 million players.

Gaelic games, the traditional sports played in Ireland, are also alive and well in Brussels. The two main games are Gaelic football (a vigorous mix of rugby and football) and hurling (a hearty variant of lacrosse with a touch of Harry Potter’s quidditch). Both are wildly popular in Ireland – the all-Ireland Gaelic football finals attract 82,500 at Dublin’s Croke Park stadium – but have very limited traction elsewhere. However, the Irish community in Brussels has ensured


seven pointerson staying physically active

5Consider investing in home exercise equipment if you don’t have time to go

to the gym. There’s a wide variety now available.

6It’s confirmed, desk jobs are not good for your health. Try a standing desk, swap

your chair for an exercise ball or set up a workout corner in your office. If you can’t escape the office to go for a walk at lunchtime, pop into a colleague’s office instead of emailing and use the stairs instead of taking the lift.

7Online social media may be a passive activity, but wearable technology such as Google

Glass or Google Watch are alternative solutions that you can use on the move.

1There is a strong correlation between physical activity and longevity. Apps and other online

tools are there to assist you with step counting or digital coaching.

2Sport is an important part of stress management. It takes your mind off day-

to-day issues at work and home and also increases your energy levels.

3Team sports are a good idea if you want to combine physical activity with improving

your social life.

4Outdoor exercise has many benefits and is more enjoyable, but indoor

activities are more practical in the winter. The importance is maintaining your exercise programme.

Sport is an important part of stress management

Active •

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Agenda •

what’s on outside Brussels

the wOrLD GOes POPPop Art was one of the most significant movements to come out of the Anglo-American art world in the 1950s and 60s, but that story has been told time and again. In its latest major exhibition, London’s Tate Modern explores Pop Art from a different angle. The World Goes Pop focuses not on the roots of the movement but its reception and evolution around the world, from Latin America to Asia and from Europe to the Middle East. It turns out Pop Art wasn’t just a celebration of consumer culture but developed in the turbulent 1960s and 70s into a sophisticated international language of protest.

Until 24 Januarywww.tate.org.uk

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hAunteD hALLOween

If you fancy a Halloween celebration with a nostalgic twist, look no further than Radio Modern’s Haunted Halloween. Master of cer-emonies King B and his crew of retro enthusiasts preside over an evening of vintage horror costumes and timeless music, performed live by Ital-ian rockabilly outfit Howlin’ Lou and his Whip Lovers and then spun into the wee morning hours by Dutch DJ/VJ duo the Scopi-Tonics. Ra-dio Modern’s resident swing dance troupe the Moder-nettes perform yesteryear’s most popular moves while dance instructor Spider Legs Joris is on hand to show you how to cut a rug. It promises to be a scary good time.30 October Vooruit, Ghent www.radiomodern.be

CALIGuLA

This season, veteran Flemish stage director Guy Cassiers takes on two giants: French philosopher/novelist/play-wright Albert Camus and infamous Roman Emperor Caligula. Cassier’s Caligula is a contemporary adaptation of Camus’ 1944 drama of the same name, which was itself an existential interpreta-tion of the historical facts. Camus casts Caligula not as a bloodthirsty tyrant but rather a desperate human being, unable to come to terms with freedom, respon-sibility and, above all, death. The end result is the same: brutality on an epic scale. The production premieres in Antwerp before touring Bel-gium and the Netherlands. Also showing at Kaaitheater in Brussels (10-12 Decem-ber).19-28 November Bourlaschouwburg www. toneelhuis.be

fILM fest Gent

Since its inauguration in 1974, this has become one of the biggest cinema events in Belgium. Apart from the official selection, the festival features previews, premieres, retrospective and theme programmes, special guests and more. This year’s focus is on British cinema. London-born director Alan Parker (Midnight Express) has been tapped to head the international jury. An-other annual highlight is the World Soundtrack Awards, which has been part of the programme since 2001. This year’s guest of honour is composer Alan Silvestri, whose soundtrack credits include the iconic themes of Back to the Future and For-rest Gump.13-24 October www.filmfestival.be

verLAIne CeLL 252

This is your last chance to visit Mons while it still holds the vaunted title of Euro-pean Capital of Culture. The Mons 2015 programme has been running at full steam since January and autumn’s main event is an exhibition devoted to the 19th-century French poet Paul Verlaine. He famously shot his young lover Arthur Rimbaud in a Brussels hotel room in 1873 and subsequently served a prison sentence in Mons. This episode is the public’s point of entry into a long life lived in wine, vagabondage and the word.Until 24 JanuaryBAMwww.mons2015.eu


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If you’re looking for one of the next generation of Belgian photogra-phers, don’t look close to home. With a seemingly insatiable urge to travel, they’re more likely to be

found in Iceland or Slovenia, Japan or India than in downtown Brussels.

For Maroesjka Lavigne, travel is about opening up to new ideas. “I love to dis-cover new places, places that are totally new for me and full of surprises. I just walk or drive around and look at every-thing as if I was a character in a movie.”

Her first project abroad was inspired by an internship with a newspaper in Iceland. After a month on assignment she travelled through the country for a further three months, returning later to experience the winter. The resulting images explore the way people relate to Iceland’s stark, beautiful landscape, with a strong interplay of brightness, darkness and colour.

These photographs made up her gradua-tion project in 2012 from the Royal Acad-emy of Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghent. They went on to win awards, and earned her a solo show at the Robert Mann Gallery in New York.

The commissions that followed inspired further trips. Asked to produce photo-graphs on a feminist theme, she went to Seoul to explore cosmetic surgery in South Korea, resulting in the series You Are More Than Beautiful. Invited to Japan by the Flanders Centre in Osaka, she produced Not Seeing is a Flower, a series looking for the modern beauty of Japan, along with echoes of ‘floating world’ art-ists such as Hiroshige and Hokusai.

“Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the link between aesthetics and content,” she says. “The question of whether photog-raphy always has to go together with meaning, or if you can just let it go and be satisfied with a certain type of feeling.

I respect photographers who have very aesthetic pictures but with a lot of hidden layers.”

Her latest trip has taken her to Namibia, in search of places relatively untouched by human hands. “I wanted to do something Iceland-like again. To wander around in a place that is still very natural, look around and be surprised,” she explains. “It was absolutely beautiful. One of the most impressive journeys I’ve made so far. I saw more animals than people.”

She finds this isolation inspiring rather than challenging. “People always ask me if I get lonely out there on my own. In the beginning it’s hard to leave home, but when I find an interesting location I forget about that quickly.”

Travel means something different for Max Pinckers, who grew up in Asia, spend-ing his early years in Bali, Australia, India and Singapore. “When I came back to

✶ By Ian Mundell

A Belgian viewMeet three young Belgian photographers casting their lens on the world

Lifestyle •



Belgium to study, aged 18, I felt more at home there than here,” he says. “When I had to choose what to do for my masters degree, I was drawn back to Asia because I still felt that I knew it better.”

He also studied at KASK, developing an approach that challenges accepted ideas about documentary photography. Scepti-cal about its ability to capture objective truth, he also rejects the pursuit of a ‘de-cisive moment’ in which chance conspires to create an aesthetically pleasing image. “If there is a moment that you need to capture, it’s better to make sure that mo-ment happens instead of waiting for it.”

He first applied these ideas in Thailand, working with classmate Quinten De Bruyn to produce carefully composed, artificially lit photographs of life in the transgender community. “You have these eerily perfect-looking images, which might seem spontaneous and real, but because of the artificial lighting the

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the link between aesthetics and content” MAroESjKA lAvIGnE

From the series You Are More Than Beautiful by Maroesjka Lavigne


viewer gets the feeling that something isn’t right.”

For the book Lotus these images were combined with photographs taken by the subjects themselves, using disposable cameras. “These pictures say more about their world than anything we, as photog-raphers, could ever achieve.”

Pinckers went to India for his gradua-tion project, exploring the influence of Bollywood on everyday life by combining pictures taken on film sets with scenes improvised in the streets. “Once you set up your lights and your camera, within ten minutes there will be thirty people gathered around to watch what happens. Then all I have to do is turn around and say: Who wants to be the star? Immedi-ately you get volunteers, and then people

from the crowd start to direct what’s going on.”

After graduating in 2012 he returned to India, extending this idea with a series contrasting romantic depictions of ‘forbid-den’ relationships with the harsh reality of living through them. He has also worked in Japan, playing with western preconcep-tions of the country, and in Kenya with veterans of the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s. This project contrasts their versions of events with British propaganda from the time.

He is also busy with a PhD examining conventions in documentary photogra-phy, and he was recently nominated to the prestigious Magnum Photos agency. “It came as quite a surprise,” he says. “I didn’t think my work would fit in some-

Lifestyle •

From the series The Fourth Wall by Max Pinckers

“Because of the artificial lighting the viewer gets the feeling that something isn’t right”MAx PInCKErS

how.” Where this will lead remains to be seen, he adds.

Gert Verbelen is a third KASK student to have caught the travel bug, although with completely different destinations. His first photographic trip involved taking the train from Moscow to Beijing, a journey he expected to be about landscape. “I thought I’d spend all my time sitting at the window, but actually the opposite happened, and it was all happening inside the train.”

Stopping off in Russian and Mongolian villages along the way confirmed his inter-est in everyday people and places. “I think a photographer is always a kind of voyeur, always looking for something exotic, but the exotic can also mean banal things.”

For his 2014 graduation project he devised a different kind of journey: he would visit the 18 countries of the eurozone, spending a week in whatever settlement was closest to the centre. “It’s a way of going deep into a country, to see what’s there,” he explains.

He did no research beyond finding the location and fixing somewhere to stay. Once he arrived, he simply got up every morning and went out with his camera. “Often there was nothing to see,” he recalls. “In France, I had to walk around all day before I saw anyone.”

And yet the project obliged him to keep walking the same three or four streets. “It becomes like a performance. You think to yourself that you have seen everything already, but you haven’t. Every day is another day, every day there are different people and different light. Instead of travelling through the country, in search of something, you have to stick to that point, the same stones and the same doors that you see every day, just to intensify your gaze.”

Out of thousands of images, he selected just a few to represent each location in his book, The Inner Circle of Europe. Much of this was down to instinct, choosing col-

ours and forms that produced a coherent sensation of each place. “I sensed that I had to make collages,” Verbelen says. “Each one had to be one country, but also give an oversight of Europe.”

The results are also personal. “The villages are like holding up a mirror to myself. As a photographer, what you photograph is also what you are.”

maroesjkalavigne.bemaxpinckers.begertverbelen.be


“As a photographer, what you photograph is also what you are”GErT vErBElEn

Aliveri, from the series The Inner Circle by Gert Verbelen


Lifestyle •

In the neighbourhoodConsider a trip down the Rhine for an alternative European break

rhIne CruIsesRhine landscapes are often so picture-perfect that you could forget how important the waterway is for the economy – and that includes tourism. There’s no better way to discover this mighty river with its ruins and castles than by boat. By virtue of lock and bridge restrictions, most cruise trips appear the same, but in reality they can vary a lot, from boutique style to luxury, from relaxing to active. Browse the operators’ websites to choose the best one for you.

wIne tAstInG

Rhine wines are famous and taste even better when you drink them in the region they come from. A typical seven-day wine cruise between Amsterdam and Basel can include one or more visits to wineries such as Rüdesheim. A sommelier could organise a tasting, and of course for dinner there will be a perfect wine pairing. www.amawaterways.co.uk

ChrIstMAs MArket CruIses

This is a perfect treat before diving into the holiday season. Most river companies organise festive cruises, and even if there’s no log fire in the ship’s saloon, the interiors are all warmly decorated. Over a couple of days you can visit the famous German Christmas markets, enjoy fine dining, re-lax in the spa and come home with presents for your family.www.croisieurope.com

A fAMILy AffAIr

Some companies have worked out great packages for families with plenty of surprises for the kids. A cruise between Amsterdam and Basel passes through Switzerland, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Just don’t tell the children it’s educational. It can also be active, with the whole family enjoying a mountain bike ride through forests and along the riverbanks. In the upper middle Rhine valley lies the Unesco world heritage Lorelei, a 65km hilltop area of fairytale castles and fortress-es. The towering slate cliffs offer panoramic views over a once-treacherous stretch of the river. Chocolate tasting is one of the many additional activities on offer.www.tauck.com

rhIne AnD rIDe

Why not use a cruise ship as a hotel? During the week you can grab the on-board bikes and pedal a scenic route from a village in the Black Forest toward the vineyards of the Rhine valley, or you may want to combine a ride through vineyards with some wine tasting. Prefer beer? Then point your wheels toward a typical beer garden. A bicycle is useful for discovering cities such as Strasbourg or Co-logne, and in the meantime, your floating hotel accompa-nies you with your room and luggage. Easy.www.backroads.com

A MuLtIPLe CIty trIP

The Rhine provides access to other waterways, and this generates numerous travel opportunities. You could dis-cover five beautiful northern metropolises in less than a week, such as Cologne, Düs-seldorf, Antwerp, Amsterdam and Brussels. The concept is simple: your boat doubles as a mobile hotel. There’s no need for packing and unpacking, or for reposition-ing. Sit back and relax as your vessel slides along the green landscapes.www.arosacruises.com


And finally ...

Sporting collapse and apocalyptic weather: Sally Tipper looks back at some of the events making the news in the last 100 days

There was heartbreak and joy at Planckendael animal park in Mechelen within the space of a few weeks as two elephants produced long-awaited offspring.

The first, Baby Q, was rejected by his mother; despite the best efforts of zookeepers and a nation willing him to pull through, he lost his short battle for life. Happily, Qiyo, born in June, is thriving, and the sight of the zoo’s star attraction wal-lowing in mud is surely enough to melt the stoniest heart.

Scientists in Scotland work on creating non-melting

ice cream

US Supreme Court makes same-sex marriage legal across the country

American horror movie director Wes Craven dies aged 76

Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal says he will

donate his €29bn personal fortune to charity

Belgium was battered by monster hailstones and heavy winds as the late summer’s humidity erupted in a series of storms. Trees were uprooted and one house

in Kortemark was almost completely destroyed, while hailstones the

size of ping-pong balls rained down on greenhouses in

Bruges. Summer, it seems, is over.

The oldest rocker in town this summer was the Dalai Lama,

guest of honour at Glaston-bury. A few days before turning 80 he addressed festival-goers on climate change, nuclear weapons and jihad, before taking to the stage to be presented with a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday and a cake from veteran Patti Smith.

aug2015

july2015

june 2015

Comment •


It wasn’t a great summer of sport for the Aussies, with Nick Kyrgios getting backs up at Wimbledon with tantrums including rowing with an umpire, refusing to

return shots and bouncing his racquet into the crowd. Fans of good manners breathed a sigh of relief when he went out in the fourth round. And Australia’s cricketers had even

less to smile about, as Eng-land regained the Ashes

thanks in part to a stunning batting

collapse at Trent Bridge that saw the visitors all out for 60.

statue of limitations

I’ve lived here long enough to know what guests will want to do when they come to visit. It doesn’t matter whether they come from London or Lima. The first thing they want to do when they come to Brussels is to get out

of Brussels. They want to go to Bruges.

I will always try to talk them out of it, especially if they come in the summer, because Bruges is just too full of tourists in the summer. It’s much more interesting to go to Ghent, I will gently advise. But it’s pointless to argue, because they’ve been told to go to Bruges, and so they end up in Bruges along with all the other people who have been told to go to Bruges.

The next thing they inevitably want to do is to eat a Belgian waffle. Then drink a Belgian beer. Then buy a box of Belgian chocolates to take home. All of this can easily be done in Bruges, which makes me wonder why they even bother coming to Brussels at all.

But they do have one reason for visiting Brussels. And it’s not the magnificent art in Bozar and the Fine Art Museum. Or the spectacular Art Nouveau architecture. Or the friendly cosmopolitan buzz that most foreign residents like about the place. No, the one and only reason to visit Brussels is to look at a silly bronze statue of a plump little boy peeing.

I try to suggest that this is going to be a waste of time since everyone who sees the Manneken Pis makes exactly the same comment. It is really not very interesting, they all agree. An Australian blogger recently went so far as to call it “the most disappointing national monument in the world”.

You can see his point. It’s a major tourist destination. It’s in all the guidebooks. And it’s really very disappointing.

It’s not just the statue that’s disappointing. It’s the entire neighbourhood. You approach the statue along a narrow street packed with tourist shops selling Manneken postcards, Manneken corkscrews that feature the little peeing boy, Manneken garden ornaments that are three times the original size.

Your guests will then tell you that it’s the most disappointing tourist sight they’ve ever seen. But when they go back home, they will tell their friends that they had a fantastic time in Brussels. And they will pass on the advice that when you go to Brussels, you have to visit Bruges, and eat a waffle, and drink a beer, and buy chocolates to take home, and look at the most disappointing tourist sight in the world.

✶ By Derek Blyth



Spotlight • spotlight •

Cross cultureDouble celebration for arts festival Europalia Turkey

Exploring the cultural landscape of Turkey means delving into the country’s heritage as well as its burgeoning contemporary arts scene. Europalia 2015 does precisely that with three flagship exhibitions in Brussels and Antwerp plus a constellation of shows and events around the country. It offers visitors a unique insight into a country that is at a crossroads in its own culture. In addi-tion to its heritage and contemporary mission, the festival has added creation and exchange as a platform for young artists. This element is at the centre of a mini festival marking Europalia’s double celebration: 45 years of existence and 25th festival. Prepare to marvel as objects and works of art are brought together for the first time, along with collaborations between some of the two countries’ most talented emerging artists. One example is the multimedia collective NOHlab (pictured) who will perform alongside Belgium’s jazz pianist and composer Jef Neve.

6 October to 31 Januarywww.europalia.eu

expat time • autumn • 2015 • 35Pick up your copy at newsstands or at www.thebulletin.be

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